


Officer Graham

by paradiamond



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: AU, Dork Frederick, Frederick likes a man in uniform, M/M, Police Officer Will
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-28
Updated: 2014-05-28
Packaged: 2018-01-26 22:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,354
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1704479
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/paradiamond/pseuds/paradiamond
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frederick develops a crush on the newest member of the Baltimore police force, Will Graham.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Officer Graham

“-and this is our newest addition, Officer Will Graham. We just wanted to take him around to the various points of interest in town. It’s his first day,” the chief says, leaning back in the chair Frederick had offered him and sounding unashamedly bored. 

Frederick ignores him in order to look the new cop, Officer Will Graham, up and down. He’s gorgeous, more like a stripper playing dress up in a police uniform than an actual cop. Frederick grins at him, standing up to extend his hand. “Welcome to Baltimore, Officer.” 

“Thank you,” Graham says, allowing Frederick to meet his eyes briefly before they dart away again. He has a southern accent. Frederick fights the urge to lick his lips. 

“Officer Graham transferred here from Louisiana.” 

Frederick nods. “I’ve been. It’s a nice state. What brings you up here?” he asks, trying to keep Graham's attention in his office and not out there, away from Frederick. 

Officer Graham glances over at him. “I got stabbed.” 

Silence descends. Frederick can’t decide if he’s being serious or not. He doesn’t risk laughing.

“Would you like to see the facility?” he offers instead, doing his best to seem like a casual, but attractive, normal person and not a drooling idiot. 

Will, _Officer Graham_ , ignores the question, looking around the room. “Do you have many breakouts?” 

Frederick sits up a little straighter. “No, never.” He doesn’t try to stop the pride from leaking into his voice. 

Graham flashes him a tight smile. “Well, hopefully we won’t be seeing much of each other then.” 

Frederick laughs, a little too loud. He catches his secretary, Jean, staring at him from her position by the door. 

The bored police chief sighs audibly. “Well, lets take the tour. If anything ever does happen here, it’s best you know the general lay of the land,” he says to Will, who nods. 

As they leave the office, Frederick gets about an inch away from putting his hand at the small of Officer Graham’s back before he recovers himself and jerks it back. He distinctly hears Jean stifle a giggle and shoots her a glare. He’s firing her. 

She leans close to him as he shuts the door and whispers. “Well he _seems_ gay.” 

He’s giving her a raise. 

***

Because Frederick’s life is a joke, they manage to have their first ever breakout a week later. 

They find the patient almost immediately, but he still spends the night fielding phone calls to the board of trustees, running around the facility, and dealing with the police. 

Will Graham doesn’t show up until nearly nine am the next day. Just walks right into Frederick’s office without even knocking. Frederick, who at that point had been awake for over 32 hours, had his head in his hands and was wearing yesterday’s clothes. 

He glances up, thinking Jean had finally brought him more coffee, and sees him. He jerks into an acceptable adult sitting position. “Officer Graham!” he says, and his voice cracks. 

Graham shoots him a wary look, like Frederick is some sort of strange animal. _Fantastic,_ Frederick thinks, attempting to straighten his clothes. He clears his throat. “Officer Graham, I trust everything is secure outside?” 

Graham nods, drifting towards the windows. Frederick follows, drawn to him. “I’m Steven’s relief until we get the all clear. It will be me, Officer Anders, and Officer Champion,” Will says, squinting in the bright light that’s streaming through the window. 

“Champion? I don’t think I know him,” Frederick says, moving to stand next to him. 

“He’s a police dog.” 

“I see,” Frederick says, nodding. Silence. “You uh- like dogs?” Frederick asks in a desperate attempt to make conversation. 

Will looks up, expression completely serious. “Yes.” 

Frederick smiles. “That’s nice. I like dogs too.” He doesn’t, but that’s fine. He could learn to like dogs. 

Will turns to face him full on, the hint of an actual _smile_ on his face. “Do you have some?”

Frederick laughs. “No. don’t have the time.” 

Will hums and turns back to the window. “I have seven.” 

Frederick laughs and Will glances back over at him, frowning. Frederick backpedals. “Oh- I, uh, thought you were kidding.” 

“It’s alright,” Will says, looking away again. 

Frederick clears his throat. “So, uh, busy weekend?” 

“Two murders.” He doesn’t elaborate. Frederick nods, staring down at the carpet. 

He tries again. “What about this weekend?” 

Graham frowns. “Working again. Why?” 

Frederick laughs and makes a vague gesture. Wants to die a bit. He spots Jean in the corner, who seems to be filming his conversation on her phone. He glares at her. 

Frederick always has this problem with people. Most of the time, with most people, he couldn’t care less about what they thought of him aside from his professional life. But when a person catches his eye, he just falls. Hard and nearly immediately. Then he’s a mess until they either date or the person tells him to go away. 

He’s not entirely convinced that Will Graham will do either, because he doesn’t see to even notice Frederick’s interest. He realizes that Will is still waiting for an answer. 

“Nothing. Just making conversation.” 

Graham shoots him a skeptical look. Frederick gives up and escapes to the bathroom. 

***

In the following weeks, Frederick steps up his efforts to win Officer Graham’s favor and resolves not to be a total romantic fuck up. Anymore. 

An official report from the hospital on the breakout must be delivered to the police station. Normally, Frederick would have someone else do it. 

“Dr. Chilton, what a surprise.” 

He turns to face the police chief who is standing directly behind him. “Chief. I’m here to deliver the incident report.” Frederick holds the file up for the chief to take, which he does, an amused look on his face. 

“Well, we appreciate your thoroughness, but you didn’t have to-”

“I want to make sure that the hospital is in full compliance, since it is such an important matter,” he says quickly, glancing around the room. 

The chief looks him up and down, and smirks. “He isn’t here.” 

Frederick turns, face blank. “I-”

“He went out on a call,” the chief continues, as if Frederick hadn’t spoken. “He’ll probably be back soon though, if you want to wait.” 

“What? No!” Frederick draws himself up to his full height. “That won’t be necessary.” 

The chief just give him one last amused look before going back in his office. People are starting to shoot him curious looks, so Frederick makes a beeline for the door, and nearly knocks Will Graham off his feet. 

“What- Will!” Frederick gasps, and makes a wild grab to steady the man. Will rights himself, and Frederick is left grasping at the air.

Will looks startled, but is clearly not as affected as Frederick, who thinks the color might stain his cheeks permanently at this rate. “I’m sorry Dr. Chilton-”

“No! It was my fault,” Frederick says, attempting to sound gracious. Nice. “I’m just here to drop off that last file.” 

Will nods, his gaze averted. “I see.” 

Unwilling to be defeated by silence, Frederick presses on. “Not too many difficult cases I hope?” 

“Not really,” Will says, though Frederick can see he has more to say. He practically jumps at the chance. 

“But nothing you can’t handle I’m sure. I’ve heard excellent things about your detective skills,” Frederick says, trying not to think about the appalling things he had heard about Will’s social skills. It’s one of the few reasons he hasn’t given up on pursuing his interest. 

Will winces. “I’m good with detail.” 

“So they say,” Frederick says, trying a smile. Will doesn’t see it. “Anyway, I also wanted to tell you how much I’ve appreciated your help with the hospital. You’ve been invaluable and I’ve enjoyed your company.” 

_That_ Will does seem to notice, because he actually looks up. “Thank you,” he says, slowly. “I appreciate your dedication.” 

Out of the corner of his eye, Frederick sees the chief approaching. Will must see him too, because he immediately turns in his direction. Wanting to avoid more awkward teasing, Frederick beats a hasty retreat. It’s not until he’s safely in his car that he remembers that he had intended to ask Will if he’d had the chance to see Baltimore out of uniform yet. 

“Great,” Frederick says, forehead resting on the steering wheel. Now he has to invent another excuse to go embarrass himself. 

***

Despite his resolve, Frederick doesn’t make it back to the station in any reasonable amount of time, and Will never reappears at the hospital. Short of legitimate stalking, Frederick can think of no way see the other man. Which is honestly probably a sign that he should abandon this idea. 

Deciding to put it from his mind in favor of more productive things, Frederick moves on with his life. He can’t help but wonder though. 

This plan fails when he bumps into Will, in _uniform_ , at a coffee shop. For a split second, Frederick’s mind goes blank, but then he registers Will staring at him, and not moving away. 

“Officer Graham,” Frederick straightens himself. “How are you?” 

The other man looks at him evenly. “I thought it was Will. You called me by my first name at the station.” 

“Oh, I- I’m sorry about that,” Frederick says, trying to focus on sounding sincere and not on the fact that he apparently committed that point to memory. 

“It’s alright,” Will says, glancing around the shop. “I’m not really one for formalities.” 

“Neither am I,” Frederick says, which is a blatant lie and he needs to stop _doing_ that. Will drifts back a step and Frederick quickly recaptures his attention, acutely aware that he has been given a second, or third, chance. 

“So, do you come here often?” he says, and immediately winces. 

Will turns his attention back to him, clearly amused. “What?” 

“Nothing,” Frederick says, too quickly. “I have to-” He point in the direction of the door. “The hospital.” 

He all but runs away. 

***

“But you like this boy?” 

Frederick closes his eyes and tries not to get annoyed at his sister for calling Will a boy, it’s not her fault she’s older than him. He takes another sip of his whiskey. “Yes, Mary. I do, but-”

“And you told him this?” she asks, voice sharp. 

Frederick shifts uncomfortably, as though she could actually see him through the phone. “I….tried.” 

“So no.” 

“It doesn’t matter anyway,” he snaps, annoyed. “I messed it up, he probably thinks I’m a crazy person. I saw him in public last week, and I made an ass of myself _again_. Now I can’t even go back to Moon in a Cup ever again because of it.” He’s slurring a bit, due to the alcohol, but he’s pretty sure he’s getting the point across. 

“Well I’m sure that’s not true,” Mary says, trying to be reassuring. 

Frederick frowns. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Sure it does. Give it one more chance, and actually ask him this time.” 

“Maybe.” 

“Freddy.” 

“Don’t call me that,” he snaps. “But you know what? I’ll do it.” 

He can actually hear her frown over the phone. “Ok, but don’t do anything weird or crazy.” 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he says, rolling his eyes.

Two hours later, Will Graham is standing in his kitchen, hands on his hips. 

“Ok,” Will says, slowly. He glances around the room, visibly considering his next words. “Piece of advice. You don’t want me to file this police report.”

Frederick’s smile falters. “I- why not?” he asks, doing his best to sound shocked and concerned. And sober. 

Will rubs a hand over his face. “Dr. Chilton, did you set this fire?”

Frederick feels his eyes go wide. “What- no! of course not. That’s just-” He tries to laugh, but it comes out more like a squawk. 

Will looks him in the eye and crosses his arms. “You would make a terrible criminal.” 

Frederick can’t take it anymore. “I know! I’m sorry, I just…” His heart is beating fast. 

“Just what,” Will says, sounding tired. “Were you embarrassed that you set your house on fire? You really can’t just use arson as an excuse-”

“No!” Frederick exclaims, face burning. “I’m not that clumsy-” 

“Then you set the fire intentionally?” 

“No!”

Will raises an eyebrow.

“Ok, yes! I did and I’m sorry.” 

“Well you still have to tell me why,” Will says, and runs a hand through his hair, mussing it up. 

Frederick grabs onto the counter to steady himself. He can’t go to prison. He _runs_ a prison! 

“It’s nothing. It was stupid.”

“Dr. Chilton…” 

“Ok! Just, please don’t arrest me.” Frederick closes his eyes. “I just- Have you ever done something stupid when you have...feelings for someone? For their attention?” he asks, desperately. 

Silence. He finally forces himself to look at Will’s face instead of his shoes, only to find Will’s gaze turned fully to his notepad, face red. Frederick feels his stomach drop to his feet. “I know. I’m sorry, it was so inappropriate. I’ve been trying to get your attention for weeks, and I just-” 

Will clears his throat. “Well, uh. I see. I’ll have to give you this ticket. Don’t let me catch you doing something like this again.” Will tears the page out of the pad and holds out the folded slip. Frederick takes it, feeling like he’s about ten seconds from sinking straight into the floor.

Will leaves quickly, without saying anything else. Frederick couldn’t keep up with him if he tried. He hears the door close, and Frederick drops down into the stool at the kitchen counter, mortified. 

He puts his head in his hands, and tries to force the memories out of his head. “Stupid, stupid.” 

Resigned, he glances down at the piece of paper in his hands, wondering how much his little stunt cost him, and opens it. 

241-545-6788

Confused, he stares down at it, wondering how he could possibly owe that much money to the state, and then he gets it. 

He jumps so much he falls out of his stool and onto his kitchen floor.


End file.
